Automatic balancing mechanism for flying-machines.



W. P. SULLIVAN. AUTOMATIC BALANCING MECHANISM FOR FLYING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 13, 1909.

Patented Nov. 22, 1910.

6 SHEETS-SHEET l.

jizz'erziar- F624 ZZz arz Wm I In wo bu W. F. SULLIVAN. AUTOMATIC BALANCING MECHANISM FOR FLYING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 13, 1909.-

Patented Nov. 22, 1910.

6 SHEETS-*SHEET 2.

CL mwm l W. F. SULLIVAN. AUTOMATIC BALANCING MECHANISM FOR FLYING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.13, 1909. I 976,312. Patented Nov. 22, 1910.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

245262 esa e6 fiza'ezz 507 I W. F. SULLIVAN. AUTOMATIC] BALANCING MECHANISM FOR FLYING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 13, 1909. 976,312. Patented Nov. 22, 1910.

6 SHBETSSHEET 4.

Z/ZZZLkifZZ d'a ZZLIVaIZ W. SULLIVAN. AUTOMATIC BALANCING MECHANISM FOR FLYING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 13. 1909.

976,312. Patented Nov. 22, 1910.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

I v w.- F. SULLIVAN.

AUTOMATIC BALANCING MECHANISM FOR FLYING MACHINES.

I APPLICATION rinnn SEPT. 13, 1909.

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' To all whom it may concem:

UNITED sTAT'Es Parana ora ion.

WILLIAM F. SULLIVAN, OF MOUNT VERNON, OHIO, 'ASSIGNOR OF' ONE-HALF TO EDWIN LA'IIMER WEBER, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

. nuroma r c Betaome l mma-ism .ron FLYIlING-MACHINES.

Be it known that L'WILLIAM- F. Sunni-- VAN, a citizen of the United States,'res iding above mentioned.

at Mount Vernon, in the county of Knox and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Balancing Mechanism for Flying-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

Up to the present tlme that class of aeroplanes embodying the mono-planes, biplanes and tri-planes, have depended u on hand-operated means to maintain t eir equilibrium or horizontal level. Usually such means have been in the form of horizontal plane-tips, or more particularly small horizontal, vertically s'wingin fins, hinged at each end of .the'planes an actuated angularly in opposite directions in the same egree of. angle, by a single lever, which lever. is mounted adjacent the. o erator. As stated, this is the usual meth and while there are others, namely, the Wright method of 'wafping the ends of the planes, they all necessitate a hand or foot lever such as just named. I.

Itis the object-of my invention. to accomplish this maintenance of equilibrium, or orizontal level, automatically, and to ace 1 complishit by automatic meanswhich may be connected to th 81 ordinary hand lever In any caseptlieactionofjafmeanssuch as briefly outlined, is to force the machine back to its horizontal level after it has tipped to one side, and, of course, such movement must, of necessity, be faster in a high wind thanin a calm Therefore, in-my invention, ajfurther ob-- ject is to'provide means by which the automatic means may be so controlled as to opcrate, or perform its function, faster or slower, as the case may be, than the tilting or tipping of the plane.

'These and other objects, together with the advantages of my invention, will be appar-- ent by careful consideration of thefollowing description, in which referenceis made,

by numerals, to the several parts of the acany ng drawings, whiclnform partof this specification and in which- 7*".-

Figure 1- is a pl anism with the exception of the controlling lever; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the swingmg weight fram'e; Fig. 3 is a detail elevation of one of the swinging side bars rean view of my entire mech-.

moved; Fig. 4 is aside elevation of the con 1 trolling lever "Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of one of the bell-crank-levers, actuating a horizontal rack-bar, and its complementaryball-end connecting rod, removed;

F ig. 6 is a detail vertical section through the swinging frame, taken on line 66 of Fig. 2, and looking in the direction of the ar rows; Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail view of one end of one of the horizontal rackbars; Fig. 7 is a detail view of one of the slip-joint sleeve connections, the parts being detached for better illustration; Fig.8 is a face view of the vertical pivot bar located in the center of the swinging frame; Fig. 9 is .a side .view thereof; F1 10 is anedge view of one ofthe pinions; ig. 11 is a face and edge view of one of the vertical pivot carrying rack-bars; Fig. 12 is a detail elevation.

of the horizontal pivot bar of the swinging frame; Fig. 13 is a detail side elevation of the piston cylinder, valves, and connecting rods; Fig. 14 is an end elevation thereof; Fig. 15,.is a horizontal section therethrough on line 15'-. -'-15 of Fig. 13; Fig. 16 is a'ver- 'tical section therethrough on line 16 16 of Fig. 15; Figs. 17 and 18 are detail sections throu h the piston-and weight frame controlle intake valve cylinders, Figs.- 19 and 20' are similar views through the piston and weight controlled exhaust valve cylinders, and Fig. 21 is a diagrammatic lanvie'w of an aeroplane embodying leve controlling planes and provided with-my invention.

In the practical embodiment of my invention, as'shown, I provide a piston cylinder 1, in which is arranged 'a piston head 2 upon a piston rod 3 exten ing longitudinally through the c linder. One of the exteriorly 'pro ecting en s of the rod 3,'ex'tends through a guide frame 4 upon the adjacent end of,

the cylinder 1, whi e its opposite exteriorly projecting end, shown broken away in Figs.

13 and 16, is adapted for connection with a hand lever, too erate the same, upon movemnt of piston ead 2, in the same manner that it is ordinarily operated by hand. The operating fluid, preferably compressed an, is supplied from a tank 5, which may be either the receiving tank for a compressor located u n the machine, or may be a tank more starting upon a trip. This charged e p operating fluid is led from tank 5 to cylinder 1 through a pipe 6 and supply valve 7, and exhausted from the latter through an side bars 11 of which terminate in apertured ends 12v revolubly surrounding rod 9. The bracket may thus be oscillated with respect to rod 9 while itis held from sliding thereon by set collars 13 secured upon said rod within the bracket and against each ofthe a ertured side bar ends 12. One of the 'side ars 11 of the bracket has an intermediate arm 14, outstandin beneath and parallel to the supporting r0 9, and said side bar further has, at its lower end, opposite laterally outstanding arms 15.

ivotally secured'at their upper ends to the lower bracket cross-bar 10' adjacent the slde bars 11 thereof, area pair of parallel depending bars 16, which arethus, in themselves, adapted to swing in thesame plane with the rod 9, while adapted to move,-

through the u-shaped bracket in a plane transverse to that of said rod Without destroying their ability to accomplish their, first-mentioned movement. Theseswinging bars'lti support, at their lower ends, a horizontal weight bar 17, pivotally connected, and adapted to maintain bars 16 in the perpenjdicular, no matter in which direction the machine tilts. The side bars 16 are also prov1ded With intermediate opposing slots 18,

to receive the ends of a horizontal pivot bar I l9 parallel with the weight bar 17 and havmg its ends pivotally secured in said slots by transverse plns. The pivot bar 19, which is shown in detail in Fig. 12, has a central slotted cross-bar 20, which receives a pivot (to be hereinafter described) extending through the slotted forks 21 at the lower end'of a vertical oscillatory lever 22, said forks 21- straddling said cross-bar 20, as shown in 23 which straddle both the cross-bar 10 of the swinging bracket, and the supporting rod 9, and extends slightly above the latter. The lever 22 ispivotally connected to the bracket cross-bar 10, by a rod 24: passing through alined openings in said crossbar and the forks 23, and the said, forks 23 thereof have, at their upper ends, outstanding studs 25 to which one end of connecting rods 26 are pivotally secured, the opposite ends of said rods belng similarly connected to the studs 27 of part 28 of a connection I sleeved upon the rod 9, the part28 of which is slip-jointed to the part 29 in such manner that they are locked together with respect to sliding movment u on said rod, wl ilepen mitted to indepen ently rotate; This coin nection is shown in detail in Fig. 7. Thus the'swinging frame including the side bars 16, weight bar '17 and the horizontal bar 19 a and lever 22, will swing, as the machine tilts sidewjise, whereby to remain perpendicular, and the upper end of the lever 22 will be forced, by this movement, in the opposite direction to the tilting of the. machine. Thus also, by the connections described, the mechanism, as a whole, including the weight frame and the-bracket, may swing freely when the machine tilts forwardly r back-v wardly, without interfering with the swinging of the weight frame when the machine tilts sidewise. so

The part 29 of the sleeved connectmn previously referred to, is connected, by a connecting bar 30, to theupstanding arms 31 and 32 by a link 30"- b etweensald arnis, which arms are respectively upon the exterior ends of thevalve stems 33 and 34 of the intake and exhaust valves 7 and 8. These valve stems lead inwardly through one of the ends of their respective valve shells 35 and 36, and carry the inner valve cylmde rs 37 and 38, which latter are thus rotated 1n their shells by the movement of the weight frame. The end of the piston rod 3, pro jecting through the guide frame 4, has anoutstanding pin 39 engaging with the slotted 'lower end of a vertical rocker-arm 40, intermediately pivoted by a transverse pin 41 extending between the upper ends of' upright bracket-arms 42 from frame nland connected at its upper end, by a connectipg. ]00

I bar 43, to the upper ends of upright arms 14: and 45, in turn connected by" a bar 43% said arms ii-land d5 being respectively, upon theextemor ends of the valve stems :tG and 47 of the intake and exhaust Valves 7 and 8. These valve stemslead inwardly through the opposite ends of their respective valve shells 35 and 3G, to the weight-valve stems i-lrland 34,. and carry valve cylinders 48 and 49, tclcscopingly engaging upon the weight valves I-lT and 38, and which-are thus rotated by movement of the piston rod 3 in either direction.

Each of the valve cylinders 87, 38, 48'and 49, are entirely open ut'wone end and have L15 their opposite ends, to which thelr stemsare secured, spidcred as shown in Figs. 16 to 20. The cylinders 48 and d9,'controlled by the piston rod 3, are provided with diametrirally opposing central port s 50, 51,52 and In line with 11 one another, in their internalsurfaces, and e ports of the Valve cylinders, and said shells also have passages 62, 63, 64

and Ga-leading from their said recesses 61 to the piston cylinder 1, one passageof each shell, namely 62- and 65, leading to one end of the cylinder,"'-and one passage ofeach shell, namely 63 and 64., leading to the opposite end.

- The position -..in"which the valves are shown inj Fig. 16, is the one which they will assumewhenthe machine is at equilibrium, orwhen it 1s horizontally level, and m this posit-ion it will benoted that the intake valve is partially open at both sides and that such manner 'as'to' cause the weight frame to move connecting bar 30 in the direction of the arrow 66 (Fig. 15). Such movement will. rotate valve cylinder 37 to more widely open its port 54 to the port 50 of valve cylinder48 and passage 62 thus admitting more fluid to the right of the piston head 2, at the same time Will'close theopposite port s '55 of cylinder 37 to the port 51 of cylinder 48"and passage 63. Valve 38 will also be rotated and will open, its port 56 to thej .por't52 of valve 49, and to passage 64, thus .permitting the fluid piston head 2', to exhaust through passage" 64, ports-52 andg56, and through the spidered end of cylinder 38 and the exhaust passage upon the left of this 68 of shell36. p s soon as the piston rod 3 starts to move," itpperates the ordinary hand lever to which lt-is, as befor'e'stated, connected, and also causes rotation of the valvecylinders' 48 and-49 in the same direction as ,valve cylinders 37, and 38. The cylinders 48 and 49V thus follow the cylinders 37 and 38 stop as soon vand 38, the same relative registration of ports and passages bemg mal-ntalned owing to the recesses 61, and "while cylinders 37 as movement of the weight frame ceases, the piston continues to travel until pressure upon both sides thereof is equalized, which causes suflicient continued movement 'onthe part of cylindersg48 and 49 tof jiblose the exhaust valve and partially ositionuntil the machine beginsto, right 6'0 itself. -Fiomtthis, the operation of -"the open the intake valve, as it is in Fig. 16, whereby. to balance 'the' piston head. By

.this means the plane tips are not onlyautomatically moved to a proper angular poshtion to restore the machine "to its -horizontal level; but are automatically held in "Isuch valves, whenithemachine tllts in the opiposlte directionwilhljt is thought, be rea ily seen,

' In o'rdert'o theweight framednmanner that the lever may be moved -faster or slower than the tilting movement of the machine, I provide means which I will now proceed to describe, by which the pivot, before referred to, between the horizontal bar 19 and lever 22, may be raised or lowered. To this end the lever 22 has pairs of-apertured ears 69, outstanding from opposite sides thereof atright angles to the cross-bar between the extremities of .Which caret-are rotatively supported pinions 70. These pinions, one of which is shown in deta1l in,.F ig. 10, comprise a'small'central toothed portion 71, and-enlarged circular toothed side flanges 72. I Vertical forked rackbars 73 are adapted to slide upon the opposite surfaces of the lever 22 between its cars 69, with the enlarged flanges 72 of the pinions in engagement with the racks 74 thereof. Between the lower-ends-of said rackbars is secured a thrust: pin 75 which, as

shown, projects through'the lower slotted .forks 21 of lever 22 and through the slotted cross-bar 20 of bar 19.. ,Mounted to slide upon the rod 24, extendingthrough the lever 22 and the cross-bar 10, are a pair of, horizontal rack sleeve bars 7 6, one upon each side of said lever 22, and-in engagement with the small-central toothed portions 71 of the pinions 70. Thus the horizontal rack bars 76 maybe forced toward or away .from one another to rotate the pinions 70 and move the vertical rack" bars 73 down or up and consequently the thrust pin 75. A controlling lever 77 is intermediately pivoted upon a notchedframe 78, and has a latch mechanism 79 to engage selected notches on said frame. The lower end of the lever 77 is connected, by connecting rods 80, to the part 81 of a slip-joint connection sleeved upon the supporting rod 9 and similar to the one shown in Fig. 7. The other part 82, of said connection, is connected by connecting rods 83 to the upper-bifurcated end ofrla vertical rocker-arm 84-, intermediately pivotallv connected to the end ofthe arm 14 of bracket side bar 11. The lower end of rocker-arm 84 has twin sockets 85-to receive the ball ends 86 of connecting levers 87 having their opposite ends flattened to engage with the bifurcated inner ends of bell-crank levers 88 to which they are pivotally connected. I The bell-crank levers .88 are pivoted at their knees beneath the'outstanding arms 15 at the lower ends of the bracket side bars 15 and tof'the endsthereof, and their opposite forked ends are slotted, as shown in Fig. 5 to receive studs upon the outer swiveled ends of the horizontal rack-bars 76. Thus when the lever 77 is moved, the horizontal rackbars 76 are movedinwardly or outwardly, dependent upon 'the directionoff movement of such lever.

While I have described my invention in *connection with side tilting of an aeroplane,

wherein it is arranged transversely of the machine, it will be understood that the same too apparatus when arranged longitudinally of the machine will operate in a like manner to correct forward and rear tilting.

shown, the aeroplane may be corrected of tilting in all four directions.

unatic means to actuate the I The valve members 37, 38, 48 and 49, while referred to as cylindrical, are preferably, and as illustrated, slightly 'conical, and the stems of the valves are threaded Where they extend through U-shaped frames 89 projecting outwardly from the ends of shells 35 and 36. Thus by the" use of nuts 90 on said stems, one upon each end ofa sleeve projecting through the openings in said frames 89,-'

the :val'ves37 and 88 may be forced inwardly, more tightly within valves 48 and 49' and the latter within the shells 35 and 36 to compensate for wear.

\ control said actuating means, and means to regulate the speed of such actuation. y 3. The combination in a mechanism of the character described, of fluid-operated means to actuate level controlling planes,

means to automatically control saidfiuidoperated means, and means to regulate said automatic means to vary the speed of such actuation.

4. The combination in a. mechanism of the character described, of fluid-operated means to actuate level controlling planes, val ve s controlling said means, a weighted swlnging frame adapted to maintain itself in the perpendicular and having connections for operating said valves, and a lever and connec- Thus by i the use of two such apparatus as I have tions for regulating the speed of movement of said frame.

5. The combination -.in an aeroplane elnbodying level controlling planes, of automatic means to actuate the planes, and handoperated means to regulate the speed of such actuation.

6. -The combination in a mechanism of the character described, of a Weighted swinging frame, embodying a. central pivotal {.lever,

and means to change thepivot of said lever,

with respect to that of said frame, for the purpose specified;

7.. The combination in a mechanism of the character described, of a weighted swinging frame, embodying a pivoted lever projectin therefrom, racks sliding upon-said lever an carrying a movable pivot therefor, pinions in engagementwith said racks; other racks in en agement with said pinions, and means embodying a latch controlled lever, for moving said last named racks whereby toactuate the pivot carrying racks and thus vary the motion of the projecting end of said lever. I

8. The combination-in a mechanism of the character described, of a source of fluid supply, a piston cylinder, a piston therein adapted for connection to' level controlling planes whereby to actuate, the same, valves between said supply and said cylinder, connections between said. piston and certain of said valves for actuating the same, and a weighted swinging frame adaptedto maintain itself in the perpendicular, and having connections with the othervalves to actuate the same. 4

. In testimony whereof I aflix my signature,

in presence of twowitnesses. I I

' WILLIAM F. SULLIVAN.

Witnesses:

A. R. WALTON, F. A; BARRON. 

